Aren't soybeans primarily used as cattle feed? So much depends on whether we are devastated by FMD.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/109/nation/FARM_SCENE_Rise_in_soybean_pro:.shtml

FARM SCENE: Rise in soybean production expected this year

By Todd Dvorak, Associated Press, 4/19/2001 01:23

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) Matt Mechtel has two years of wheat stashed away in storage bins, about 200,000 bushels of prime grain that will stay put until wheat prices improve.

Rather than add to his stocks this season, Mechtel is cutting back on wheat and planting more soybeans. He expects nearly 5,000 acres this season, compared with 1,700 acres last year.

It's a crop Mechtel believes has more potential and profit than corn or wheat, even if it means planting soybeans in some of the same fields he did last year and ignoring crop rotation fundamentals.

''It's an exciting crop right now,'' said Mechtel, a third-generation farmer near Page. ''Things being the way they are with the farm economy, it's the safest way for me to go.''

Soybean production in North Dakota is projected to rise 26 percent this year to 2.4 million acres, according to the U.S. Agriculture Department.

Reasons include higher government subsidies for soybeans than for wheat or corn and more demand for the crop, said Deborah Johnson, executive director of the North Dakota Soybean Council.

''We see a real blossoming in the consumer products area,'' she said.

Compared with corn and wheat, soybeans command higher loan payments, federal subsidies that make up the difference between market prices and a minimum income level.

''There is no doubt there is a better return. With higher loan rates, the good yields we've been having and good moisture in recent years, people are doing real well with soybeans,'' said Milnor farmer Raymond Martinson, who plans to plant soybeans on 33 percent of his crop acres.

Although most soybeans grown in the United States are processed into livestock feed, processors are finding new uses for the crop. Among the growing markets are soy inks, food products, construction materials and biodiesel fuel.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Some wheat experts are concerned Kansas' status as the nation's top milling state is slowly eroding now that two flour mills have shut down in the past four months.

Archer Daniels Midland of Decatur, Ill., closed its Buhler flour mill in December and its Inman mill in March.

''It is a big deal for us in Kansas those are markets for Kansas wheat,'' said David Frey, administrator for the Kansas Wheat Commission. ''Sometimes we don't appreciate what we have in our back yard. We are the largest flour milling state.''

The ADM Milling Division, headquartered in Overland Park, Kan., has two other mills in the state, in Arkansas City and Salina. ADM Milling has more than 70 facilities throughout the United States, Canada, Central America and the Caribbean.

Not everybody agrees the plant closures will have much impact on the state's flour industry as a whole. Kansas still has 16 flour mills left and their production of 160,000 100-pound bags of flour milled daily puts Kansas well ahead of other states. Minnesota produces the equivalent of about 120,000 100-pound bags of flour and California 116,000 100-pound bags per day.

''Kansas is the leading flour milling state and those two mills will not affect us at all,'' said Dale Eustace, professor of grain science at Kansas State University.

On the Net:

Archer Daniels Midland: http://www.admworld.com/other2.shtml

-- Anonymous, April 19, 2001